Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Computed tomography (CT) is a medical imaging method employing tomography created by computer processing. Digital geometry processing is used to generate a three-dimensional image of the inside of an object (e.g. human body) from a large series of two-dimensional X-ray images taken around a single axis of rotation. Although the term “computed tomography” usually refers to the computation of tomography from X-ray images, it may also be used to describe positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography.
The present disclosure appreciates that there are several limitations with modern X-ray CT systems. While modern X-ray CT systems improve resolution and reduce dosage (exposure of human subjects to X-rays during tomography) by improving system geometry and materials of detector, their detector response time may present certain limitations. The afterglow effect may cause resolution degradation and artifacts in the resulting image. These afterglow effects may become more severe when the X-ray detector's size is smaller and common detector materials (i.e. gadolinium oxysulfide or selenium based materials) are used.